The present invention relates to an information recording/reproducing apparatus and, more particularly, to an information recording/reproducing apparatus that is equipped with two or more recording/reproducing modules and has a function (e.g., dubbing) to transfer data recorded in one recording/reproducing module to the other recording/reproducing module.
Recently DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorders have been growing drastically in the market related to stationary picture recorders used for recording television broadcasts. In particular, recorders equipped with functions of both a HDD (Hard Disc Drive) and a DVD have been coming into wide use rapidly due to their high convenience. One of the features of the recorders with HDD & DVD functions is that users can select a recording medium in accordance with the intended use for example, in such a way as to dub only favorite programs on the DVD after recording multiple programs on the HDD.
As a conventional art of such dubbing functions, the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2001-320669 is proposed. The art cites as “Problem to be solved by the Invention” a signal processing device where the dubbing status can be monitored during high speed dubbing processing of digital image data or digital audio data. The art also cites as “Means for Solving the Problem” the device so configured as to include a first memory device 101 where MPEG system streams are stored as digital data, a second memory device 102 to store MPEG system streams as digital data, and a decoding module 103 that performs decoding on system streams read out from the first memory device 101, and to perform discrete decoding processing on system streams that are transferred at higher speed than usual data reproducing processing from the first memory device 101 to the second memory device 102 through the decoding module 103.
As another conventional art, the technique described in JP-A-1994-150404 is proposed. The art cites as “Object of the Invention” a signal processing device that generally includes only one recording/reproducing deck, in particular, uses only one optical pickup whereby can perform dubbing processing of data from a reproducing optical disk to a recording optical disk and that is so configured as to include: recording means 7 and 16 that intermittently write data to be recorded into an optical disk using a recording magnetic head 14 and a recording/reproducing optical head 3; reproducing means 7 and 16 that intermittently read out data to be reproduced from the optical disk using the optical head; a memory means 9 that temporarily stores the reproduced data read out from a reproducing optical disk 1R using the reproducing means during the waiting period of the recording means; dubbing control means 10 and 16 that writes the reproduced data stored in the recording means into another recording optical disk 1 using the recording means during the waiting period of the reproducing means; and head moving means 4, 6 and 22 that move the optical head above the reproducing optical disk during a reproducing operation and move the magnetic head and the optical head over the recording optical disk during a recording operation.
As still another conventional art, the technique described in JP-A-1995-272444 has been also proposed. The art describes a device that is so configured as to dub data recorded on a first recording medium on a second recording medium by alternately performing a reproducing operation where data to be reproduced are written from the first recording medium 1 into an audio buffer memory 13 and a recording operation where the written data are recorded on the second recording medium 2 through moving and making a recording/reproducing head 8 access the first recording medium 1 and the second recording medium 2, both media are closely arranged to each other and adapted to be driven to rotate independently. It is also cited as an effect of the art that the recording/reproducing head 8 and a signal processing circuit 10 can be shared between the recording operation and the reproducing operation during dubbing processing, leading to simplification of the device configuration and reduction of the production cost. It is also cited as another effect of the art that switching between the accessed media in a short period of time through moving the recording/reproducing head 8 permits of a higher-speed dubbing processing. The art also states that although the example to control the rotation speed of the recording medium that is not being accessed at the speed stored in a memory 25 during dubbing processing, where the recording/reproducing head 8 is made to alternately access the first recording medium 1 and the second recording medium 2, has been described, various modifications may be made. For example, it may be possible that the rotation drive of the recording medium 1 or 2 that is not being accessed by the recording/reproducing head 8 is stopped for a while depending on switching intervals and that the rotation drive is started again just before the next switching so that the rotation speed gets equal to the speed stored in a memory 25. Such a control over the recording media can be done every time the switching between the accessed media is performed. By selecting the control technique and so on according to circumstances, wasteful electric consumption can be reduced and higher economic effect can be expected.